Friday Focus: Art as Expression: On the Outside Looking In

Last night I watched an amazing documentary about little known street photographer, Vivian Maier. The intriguing thread which ran through this remarkable woman's story was that someone else had created the dialogue after piecing together the mystery of who Vivian Maier actually was. During her lifetime, keen street photographer, Vivian created an immense catalogue of work during her life which lay undiscovered in a storage locker until 2007 after being auctioned off for non payment of rent on a small studio apartment. 

She had decided that even though she had been capable of producing some of the most astonishing images of urban America, that she did not wish to share these with the world. After her death in 2009, her work was brought to light by the buyer who was amazed by what he saw...

Vivian's Story

Born in New York City in 1926; Vivian's family were of french heritage and it was in France that she would return to at a young age and spend most of her youth. She returned back to the US in 1951 and would spend the rest of her professional life as a live-in nanny, and her personal life indulging in her passion of street photography. Nobody ever saw her work while she was alive; many of the families who she lived with over the course of her stay with them, say that they never saw her without her Rolleiflex camera hanging around her neck.

Vivian lived in New York until 1956 and then moved to the suburbs of Chicago where she continued with her employment with various families; all of the time recording anything and everything that she thought was of interest - she had a fascination with people, places and newspaper stories; some of which she reenacted by visiting the places which she had read about and taking photos - as if reliving the event in someway; regardless of how macarbe.

As the years passed, as she continued to move on, her rolls of undeveloped printed work began to collect. It was around this time that Vivian switched to colour photography; her colour photos being more abstract than her previous work; replacing people and places with found objects, newspapers and graffiti. In the 1980s due to financial stress, lack of stability and by not having the means to process any of the photographs that she was taking; she began to stockpile her rolls of film.

Eventually during the 1990s, dealing with homelessness and then being helped to rent a small studio apartment she had no option than to place her belongings and work into storage. Without any means, one of the storage lockers containing a immense hoard of negatives which she had stashed throughout her lifetime, was sold off in 2007 due to non payment of rent to various buyers including local realtor, John Maloof.

Vivian Maier sadly died in 2009 and it wasn't until this time that John Maloof actually began to sift through the nondescript boxes that he had purchased from a downtown Chicago auction house. The amazing, captivating images of urban America during the second half of the 20th Century that he discovered astonished him - and so her story began...

For a more in depth look at Vivian's life and work visit www.vivianmaier.com